Mollywood (24 page)

I WATCHED AS Molly waddled back and forth between our bedroom closet and the bed, quickly filling a large suitcase. We’d been arguing for hours, and I felt defeated and powerless. The air in my lungs burned as I finally managed to take in a breath. The situation had spun out of control and it looked like she was serious about leaving.

“Baby girl, please. Can we just sit down and talk?” My voice was strained from all the arguing and came out as a rough rasp.

“No. The last thing we need to do is talk more. All we’ve done since Friday is talk talk talk. I’m fed up with talking. It’s stressing me out. The sooner I get out of town the better.”

I froze at that, paralyzed with uncertainty. “Molly. Don’t do this.”

I tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but she brushed it away. Acid churned in my stomach at her words. She went back into the bathroom and when she came out, she dropped a second bag of makeup and toiletries onto our bed. Giving a last look around, she nodded and then turned her eyes on me. Her confident and determined look wavered for a moment, and then she blew out a ragged breathe.

“Joe…look…I know that you don’t understand why you can’t come. You’ve made that pretty clear. And I know it’s driving you insane that I’m going without you. But I think once you have a little distance you’ll see that you need some down time and so do I.”

“I don’t want you driving all the way to Gal Island alone. Houston traffic sucks.” I tried a last ditch argument regarding the practicality of her going without me. She hated going out in the madhouse traffic of a major city, and Houston was legendarily awful. Maybe she’d rethink things.

“Luckily that is not even an issue. I’m not driving. Sanchez is taking me to the airport and David is flying us down on his private plane.” She replied, zipping a few plastic baggies into the outer pocket of her suitcase.

“Sanchez!” I exclaimed. “Why does he get to go?”

“What are you, five?” She graced me with a gentle smile. “He’s my sous chef, darlin’. If we sign a deal, he’ll do the demonstrations for David’s staff. I’m being practical. I’ll be banned from travelin’ soon, so I’ll have to work the truck and send Dirty S. down south. I want them to see us as a united front. Introduce him out of the gate as my right hand. I thought you’d appreciate me being responsible…you know, thinkin’ ahead.”

I dropped onto the bed and put my head in my hands. I probably should have gone to take a couple of the Xanax that Dr. Greene had prescribed for me for situations like these. My legs felt like jelly and I had serious doubts about my ability to make the seven foot journey into the bathroom. What she was saying sounded completely logical. The doc said it was safe for her to travel for at least another month, but after that we’d have to reassess week to week.

She was right to try to take care of the preliminaries of the deal all in one trip. But none of that logic and reason did anything to calm the monster in my head. And right now he was warning that if I wasn't there to protect her anything could happen. When I thought about her driving around a city without me, the specter from my past laughed at me chillingly. It made me start to wonder if it was us tempting fate. Logical? I don’t think I could even define the word right now.

I felt the bed dip and she was beside me, wrapping her arms around my waist and nuzzling her head against my upper arm.

“Baby.” She cooed, commanding me to look in her direction. “You cannot control every situation. We can’t be together every second of every day. I wish we could, but it’s not sustainable. I
love
that you want to be with me, but you really
need
to decompress. Go have a drink with the twins. They’re probably getting a complex from you bitching them out. Play some golf, darts, Xbox… whatever you used to do for fun before I moved in with you. Pretty soon we’ll have two little ones demanding every waking second of our time and you’ll have no time for
you
, let alone me.”

I didn’t think it would be a good idea to mention that before she moved in, all I did was get drunk and troll Sixth Street looking for an easy lay. Not that that appealed to me anymore. Dropping my gaze, I let out a breath and tried to get it together. She stood and wrapped her arms around my neck so that we were practically eye to eye. I asked the questions that loomed in the forefront of my mind. “What if something happens with the babies? What if you need me?”

“I’m twenty weeks along, Joe. If something goes wrong, there’s not a whole lot they can do.” She must have seen how deeply disturbed that statement made me, because her eyes softened and she kissed me delicately.

“I checked with Dr. Myers. There are a couple of hospitals on the island. And there is a center for women’s health. She gave me all the contact information and she even gave me a copy of my chart. I’ll take care of our precious cargo. Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course I do.” I replied, realizing as I said it how true the statement was. It was my luck, fate, God, and the universe at large I didn’t trust. All the things that collectively enjoyed seeing me in agony.

“Good.” She kissed the tip of my nose and her finger tickled the back of my neck, which caused me to shove her suitcases aside and sweep her onto the bed. I captured her lips with mine and proceeded to kiss her with everything I had, as if it was the last time I’d see her. I knew it sounded irrational, but I worried that something would happen when she was out of my line of sight.

“I miss you already.” I mumbled against the hollow of her neck as I trailed kisses over her collar bone and down the exposed flesh of her chest.

“I’ll miss you, too.” She sighed. “Please try to relax. Get your head together. Enjoy some alone time.”

“How long do we have till he gets here?” I asked, pressing my hard on against her thigh.

“About an hour.” She sighed breathlessly, scraping her fingernails across my shoulders.

“Good. I have a going away present for you.” I drawled, pulling her to me I lost myself in the heat of our embrace.

Molly had only been gone for a few hours and I was practically bouncing off the walls. I watched a movie she’d recorded for me, but I’d be hard pressed to tell you the plot. I kept checking my phone compulsively. Finally, she texted me to say that they’d landed in Galveston. Dan picked them at the airport and they were on their way to his house. Relief washed over me and the knots in my chest loosened. My entire body felt like I had been tensing for an expected blow. There was no way in hell I was going to be able to sit at home. Suddenly, the idea of going out with Mac and Mason sounded like a lot more fun. I decided to call them and see if either of them would answer when they saw the caller ID.

Mason’s phone rang until it flipped over to voicemail. I pursed my lips and tried to ignore the sting. Mason had always been my best friend, even the best man at my wedding to Jessica, but lately we’d had a Molly-shaped wedge between us. He’d totally lost it when he found out I was seeing his sister and though that had blown over, things had never quite gotten back to normal.

With Mac now working for me and far more philosophical in his approach to me dating Molly, we’d actually formed a tighter friendship. I had mixed feelings about this development, mourning my best bud, but none-the-less enjoying Mac’s no nonsense approach to things. I punched the call button beside Mac’s name and waited.

“Hey.” Mac said, his tone neutral as he picked up on the second ring. “What’s up?”

“Thought I might take you out for a drink and darts. You know, an ‘I fucked up and I’m buying the first three rounds’ kinda night. Unless you’re busy or have Mac Jr.”

“No. I’m free.” He exhaled, and I could tell he was smoking again. “Malcolm’s back with his mom. She and her new boyfriend took him to LEGOLAND or some shit. Do you want to meet somewhere or should I pick you up?”

“Let’s cab it.” I replied. “It sucks to have to sober up before you can go home. This is the kind of night that needs lots and lots of beer. I tried to call Mason.”

“I think they had a soccer tournament tonight…or was it a dance recital? Who the fuck can keep all that shit straight? That’s why I only had one kid.” Mac declared.

“Yeah…that’s why.” I mused sardonically.

“Well
that
and his mother was a drunken whore.” He snickered in agreement. “Mason should be done by now, though. I’ll try to get ahold of him.”

We agreed to meet at a place on Rainey Street called Banger’s. I started to object when Mac suggested it, but he assured me it wasn’t a strip club.

As it turns out, Banger’s was a converted bungalow with a sprawling beer garden in the back. Long strands of white lights illuminated a decent sized stage and crowded community style tables outside. I paid the cabbie and stepped forward to read the sign. Bangers's Sausage and Beer Garden.

What a relief. The last thing I needed was for Molly to hear that our first night apart I ran out to get a lap dance. I leaned against the wall outside and waited for Mac, who’d texted me that he got ahold of Mason and he was coming along. Live music from the beer garden around back reached my ears, I started to get nervous about seeing the Hildebrandt boys. Things with the families had still been very up in the air when Molly and I left Tamryn’s the morning after my freak out. Since the shop was closed until tomorrow, I hadn’t spoken to anyone since.

Right after I issued my ultimatum to the families, the back door swung open and the kids trailed in like frozen drowned rats. Robin, Robbie, and Betty struggled to coral them so that they didn’t drip all over the kitchen. No one who’d been present during my tirade spoke, and Robin took one look at Mason’s stricken face and said “What did I miss? Damn kids! I always miss everything.”

“Joe and I were just heading off to bed. I’m exhausted.” Molly lied, grabbing my arm in both of her hands and trying to tug me out of the room. I was too fired up to go along with her excuse. Just before Granny insulted Molly, my mom had cornered me in the study and the combination of those two events finally pushed me beyond my breaking point.

When mom took me into Robbie’s study, I expected a sequel to the conversation I’d had with my father. Imagine my shock when she presented me with my Grandmother’s diamond ring.